Ali Modu Sheriff, a former governor of Borno state, says the next Nigerian president can come from any part of the country.
Sheriff spoke on Wednesday when the Frontier for Equality Leadership and Good Governance, a group within the All Progressives Congress (APC), made him its patron at an event in Abuja.
The former governor said until Nigerians believe that they are equal and a good leader can emerge from any part of the country, “we will not succeed in getting the country we dearly love”.
“Unless we all believe in ourselves as a nation, and believe all of us are equal and believe that a good leader will emerge from any part of the country, regardless of his religion, tribe or where he comes from, we will not succeed in getting the country we dearly love,” he said.
“We must put our differences aside and look for leaders from anywhere. We must also believe that leadership is from God, nobody makes himself a leader, it is only when God chooses you to be a leader and I believe that most people always blame leaders.
“If you must blame any leader, you must look at the followers, what have we done? To help our leaders to be strong – and we have to do soul searching.
“If the man that will bring succour to Nigeria is coming from a mountain in Ogoja, we should go and look for him, if it is in the extreme end of Adamawa, we should go and look for him.
“If he is coming from the end of Anambra, we should go and look for him. We must do soul-searching and look for a leader.”
The former Borno governor added that Nigerians should pray for, and not curse, their leaders.